WIP Wednesday

July is almost here and the woolly season has begun!  My customs list has started and my needles will be clicking away even more than they usually do from now until December. 

I'm working on a pair of custom longies using Mosaic Moon's Barn Owls on Meadow Mountain merino.  They took some work to not get them to pool but I think they are finally knitting up nicely.  It has been almost a month since I've knitted something totally from memory.  It is kinda nice to do some rhythmic knitting again.

I also decided to help my knitting customs mojo this season by knitting more for family and friends at the same time.  I hated when I over booked myself and didn't have any time to knit for the special people in my life.  I'm already looking forward to working on little boy sweaters and Christmas presents.  To start off this, I picked a really hard pattern to work from.  The Snapdragon Tam is first up on my ever changing list.  It is complicated and I can't knit it with anyone talking to me or practically in the room.  I've never worked this many continuous cables before.  I'm in awe of how this designer came up with it. I'm knitting this with Cashsoft DK by Classic Yarns.  It is knitting up well but is a bit slippery for all the needle work.  I hope the person this is for likes it. 

And finally, I took on a custom dye for the same client as the Barn Owl longies.  I've strayed away from the custom dyes lately as I find it increasingly difficult to understand what colors are in someone's head.   This client is from Norway and she wanted a 'glacier' inspired colorway.  She wanted the colors: natural, aqua, light jade, icy blue, light coral, cobalt, and brown.  When I read those colors, I didn't know how they related to glaciers.  I just think of white and blue!  When this picture of the Briksdal glacier was sent to me as color inspiration, I knew exactly how she came up with those!  It is so beautiful!

So I came up with this

I am to make this into a pair of overalls! 

Have a happy Wednesday!  What are you working on this week?

this moment...

this moment...

a friday ritual (inspired by soulemama). a single photo capturing a moment from the week. a simple, special, extraordinary moment. a moment to pause, savor and remember. if you're inspired to do the same, share a link to your 'moment' in the comments!

One of my babies is 3!

It is hard to believe that my sweet little monster of a boy is 3!  He is such a funny guy and I'm luck to have him! Plus - he still lets me secretly call him my 'baby' even though he tells everyone else that he is a little boy now, not a baby.

We had a quiet birthday morning since daddy is going away on business for a few days and we just did that whole Disney thing... :)

Vacationing

We are happy to be at home from our week long vacation.  It was fun traveling with three little ones and exhausting too!  We are all trying to get back into our daily rhythm of things and are starting to look ahead to the rest of summer and the new adventures to come.

We spent the first part of our trip at our family reunion (albeit a small portion of our extended family) in Walt Disney World.  We stayed at the Port Orleans Resort on the WDW campus.  The year before we stayed at the Riverside resort.  Both are great.  The Port Orleans had a Mardi Gras theme that my almost 3 year old (tomorrow!) was a bit afraid of.  He had a hard time walking as he was so distracted by the large masks starring down at him.  I don't blame him.  I thought they were weird too!  The hotel had a pool that had a sea serpent curled around it with a water slide down his tongue.  Both of my boys could quite happily live in water and had lots of fun going down the slide and motoring around the pool with their swimmies on. Logan enjoyed his first swim too. 

We visited two parks: The Magic Kingdom and Epcot.  By boys have been planning their day at the Magic Kingdom for months and were so excited to go!  We rode all the rides we could and they ended the night with the late light show and fireworks.  Luckily, my dad stayed back at the hotel (quite happily I may add) with little Logan as it was record breaking temperatures in Florida and just too hot for a baby to be in. 

As much as people don't like Disney for all of it commercialism and whatnot, I love it.  I think it is nothing but pure fun and imagination. 
The anticipation of things is so fun to watch in your children.

And then to watch how they are when they see something truly exciting and magical. I am lucky to share that with them.

Before leaving the Disney area, we stopped by Downtown Disney for a late birthday lunch for me.  Because I am a cool mommy, I wanted to eat at the T Rex Cafe' because I know someone in my household is a bit obsessed with everything Dino.  I'll blog more on that later this week.  It was a really fun place.  My son was beyond himself with being surrounded in dinosaurs.  Plus, eating in a ice cave with a TRex skeleton above us was pretty cool too!

From there we traveled to Long Boat Key, FL.  I've been going at least once a year every year of my life.  My grandparents, and two sets of Aunts/Uncles live there.  It was so wonderful to see them!  We were also lucky to spend the time with my cousin's kids.  Reagan was at the worshiping point with the 12 year old and loved having such cool people to hang out with.  The 9 year old was such help too.  She is great with babies and Logan loved her so!
Logan got to meet his great-grandmother and I was able to give her the Tea Leaves cardi I made for her (and it fit perfectly and I didn't snap a pic!)!

We enjoyed the rest of our vacation with our family there.  We celebrated birthdays

hung out coloring in bed

 got sand everywhere

 and had evenings like these

It. Was. Magical. 

It almost makes be forget the flight home...where we had to spend an extra 3 hours in the air and arrive home at 4 AM...with three small children...after a week of being gone... :)

Wishing you a sweet week!

We are enjoying fun and family in hot, sunny Florida this week! I hope everyone has a great one too!

this moment...

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Quick, weekend knits

I managed to sneak in some quick knits this past weekend!  With a coughing, fussy baby it wasn't too easy.  Luckily Nathan was home and was able to spend lots of quality fun outdoor time with the older ones!

The Milo Vest.  Super fast knit!  I had intended to do more with this but ended up just doing the basic pattern.  I'll have fun with this later though!  There are lots of possibilities and I love how the pattern is for up to 4T.  I like to make my boys match every once in a while (because I am that kind of mom). 

I also did a super fast knit cap to check gauge on Meadow Mountain wool.  With woolies season just ahead (even though summer hasn't officially started), I needed to see what my gauge will be with this type of wool.  Elizabeth Zimmermann, the goddess of knitting, says to check gauge in the type of knitting you plan on doing.  If you are going to knit in the round, it is foolish to knit a flat square to check your gauge, it will not be the same.  She always suggests to buy enough wool to make a hat with your project so you can have the perfect gauge every time. 

I had dyed this wool in a gradient pattern based on Spider-Man's colors as he is super cool lately in our home.  I think I've read the "Life of Peter Parker" way too many times lately.  I also added a slip stitch every 10th sts to look a little bit like a spider's web.  I wrote exactly what I did on my Ravelry page.

On the needles now is a Tickle Hat for stock later this fall.  I like doing hats!  Short, simple, fun projects are always to quick and rewarding!


This week we are getting ready for our vacation in Florida! We are so excited and it is the topic of almost every conversation we have around here!

this moment...

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

A few projects finally done

This past week has kept me away from posting much.  All three boys came down with some weird allergies followed by a nasty cold.  You know you are an experienced mother when you stand by the sink to burp your baby so he can directly puke down the drain when he coughs.  It hasn't been pleasant.  Of course they all gave it to me as well.  It would be nice to call in sick every once in a while!

I did finally get some nagging projects finished this week.  With the help of my two older boys, we repainted some salvaged chairs that I had around the house.  They aren't perfectly painted and I just have to "smile" at the drip marks on the wood and uneven painting, but they are done and work for me.  I recovered the cushions with the most fantastic fabric from Anna Marie Horner.  It is from the Play Time collection.  I just love how fun and whimsical it is without being too much.  It is a nice, bright pop to my mostly brown and green house.  

A little woolie lovey for Logan.  I made this with the beginnings of Elizabeth Zimmermanns' Garter Stitch blanket and then finished it a different way.

My grandmother's sweater is all finished and waiting for custom buttons from Tessa Ann on Etsy.  I hope to get them soon as we leave for FL in just 9 days.  It might take that long to block and dry. 

Once I go into town and get a pillow form, my Sand Dollar pillow will be done for someone special.  I won't make the mistake of saying who it is as it seems my family actually reads what I put online and I don't want to get "busted" again!  I hope, once assembled, it will be pretty.  The pieces turned out well and it should be a darling little something to give. 

Finally, a new project (for now) on my needles.  A Milo vest for Logan.  I can't decide if I will continue the vest down and make a onesie/shorties type jumper then steek and add buttons or it I will make life easy and keep it a vest.  Who knows!  If I keep it a vest and have enough yarn left over, I'll make a Baby Shell.